Have you ever started cooking, then halfway through you realize you’re missing a key ingredient? If you’re lucky, someone can pick it up for you. If not, it’s a mad dash to the shop and the hope that it’s all still edible.
Have you ever had that feeling in your workday?
You know, when there’s too many tasks, or something is missing, or you remember that report you were supposed to finish and send to Debs. Regardless of the cause, it’s not a fun place to be. Sunsama is great at helping us manage our tasks and time, but it’s our job to feed it the right information so we don’t get caught out in future.That’s why we need our inner project manager…
Task VS Project Management
Project management isn’t about bureaucracy (or at least, it shouldn’t be), but instead about making sure the right stuff happens at the right time. To do this we need an overview of the entire project and the ability to see what we need to do next. But where do we even start? Well, I like to start at the beginning…
You can’t see the label from inside the jam jar.
Let’s imagine your business makes jam, and when you are making jam you are ‘in the jam jar’. You also need to see what’s on the label and make sure you’re making the right jam and putting it in the right jar. This is the job for your inner project manager. They will keep an eye on all of your individual projects (flavours of jam) and the progress of each (do you have enough strawberries? When is the next shipment of sugar due in?). Sunsama helps us make the jam. Asana tells us which jam to make.
Using Your Inner Project Manager
Projects (no matter how small) have four key stages: scoping, planning, delivering, and reviewing. Your inner project manager’s job at each stage is to make it as easy as possible for you to make progress.
- Scoping
When you cook, do you check your cupboards before you start? Do you write a list of missing ingredients and work out where and when to go and get them? That is scoping. This is the stage most of us rush, but it’s the best way to avoid that ‘missing ingredient’ panic later down the line. In its simplest form, there are three steps:
- Brainstorm everything about this project on a post-it, mindmap, or list, e.g. tasks, deadlines, people involved, constraints, considerations.
- Look for any gaps - what action do you need to take to fill the gaps? Write those actions down.
- Is there anything unclear? Scope out what you need to do to clarify, write those actions down too.
This stage can be very quick, but for larger projects can take years. Take your time and only move on when your brain feels empty or you have enough information to plan effectively…
- Planning
Now you have all of your ingredients laid out, it’s time to plan how to put them together. I start this stage by moving around my post-its, then I add and tweak the plan in Asana. Your inner project manager is writing instructions for Future-You to follow. To make it as easy as possible to make progress, each task needs to be a clear instruction to take a specific action. You need to know exactly what the task means from the title alone.
Planning in Asana top tips:
- Make sure each task has a due date and assigned person
- If you’re not sure what a task means, scope it out and break it down into clearer tasks. Goblin Tools is helpful if you struggle with this step.
- Make sure your plan is feasible and not dependent on sleep-deprivation or dangerous caffeine consumption.
- Once you’ve made your plan for this project, toggle to ‘My Tasks’ and check for any clashes or over-scheduled weeks. Replan and reschedule as needed.
Remember this plan is your best guess about the future. Once you start working through your plan it will change. This is normal, and why your inner project manager still has a job in the next two stages!
- Delivering
For most of this stage you’re going to pull your plan into Sunsama and work away as normal. You’ll draft in your inner project manager if…
- Something goes wrong - problems that can’t be fixed in the moment need to be included in your project plans. That means getting your inner project manager to scope out the problem, work out the urgent tasks, and then replan so you can get back on track.
- You feel overwhelmed - if there’s too much to do, that’s a planning and scheduling issue. Use your data from Sunsama to estimate how long things will take, and replan so you can get back on track. That may well include stopping or pausing some areas of work!
- It’s the beginning or end of the week - regularly checking in means you can spot and plan for any issues proactively. I pair this task with my ‘Plan Your Week’ time in Sunsama, using both Asana and Sunsama to check my priorities and make any adjustments.
- Reviewing
We don’t want to wait until the jar is full to check we’ve been adding the right jam. Your inner project manager doing regular reviews can help you track your progress, celebrate wins along the way, and sort out anything that has changed over time. You can review whenever it makes sense for you, but I focus on…
- Monthly reviews - these are bigger than a weekly check in and focus on the wider objectives I have for the month ahead. This is where I’ll make adjustments to make sure I’m not overwhelmed in the next 4-5 weeks.
- After something has gone wrong - once you’re out of crisis mode, a review (or debrief) can help you see what happened, what went well, what needs improved, and how you can prevent the same problem in future.
- End of project reviews - you did it! Far from the time to start the next big thing, this review is time to mark your achievements, take on any lessons learned, and tie off any loose ends. Prosecco is welcome here.
Using Asana and Sunsama
Asana is where we manage our projects. When we manage our projects well, it makes it easy to manage our days in Sunsama. It’s looking at the jar in advance so we know what flavour to expect when we open the lid. And when we open the lid, it’s a plan that feels possible every step of the way!
Troubleshooting Cheat Sheet
I’ve got too many overdue tasks If you’ve been doing the work, this is a project management problem. Ask your inner project manager to look at your plans and delegate, defer, and delete as much as possible. If you’re struggling to do the work, it’s a delivery issue. Your inner project manager needs to look and see what support you need to make progress.
I’ve lost track of what I need to do Spend some time enlisting your inner project manager to re-scope and re-plan so you know exactly where you are right now. In big projects I try to do a version of this every 3-6 months!
None of my tasks make any sense Scope out the confusing tasks - what does ‘finish accounts’ really mean? Break it down on post-its or a mindmap, or use Goblin Tools to help.
My plans go out of date almost as soon as I finish making them Check if you are over-planning. The plan needs to be enough to guide you, not a full report of all things to come. If you’ve ruled out over-planning, check your Sunsama data to help you estimate how long things really take and reschedule tasks as needed.
I feel overwhelmed and it’s all too messy Some mess is normal, it’s a working system that needs regular maintenance. Take some time to tidy up and delete anything that’s no longer relevant. If it’s unsalvageable, set aside an afternoon with plenty of snacks to restart.
